The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-11-24
BACON OR sHAKesPEARE7

seller and publisher Of the day; that
he frequented coffee.houses; that in
the booksellers shop, during the in
tervals of business, he had access to
books which enable him to study: and
that in the coffee-houses, which were
also freQuented by some of the wits
aud men Of the world Of the day, he
acquired his extraordinary knowledge
Of men and things.
If this training for genius were SO
etlicacious in his casa why has 1t not
since been found tor be SO! Why Is
not now the culture of our young
geninses affected by giving them the
use of Il limited library and society
of club! What need Of schools and
universities. studies and lecture
rooms, daylight abstinences and mid
night oil, if all that innate cleverness
needs for it's most successful develop.
nent is access to certain books, varied
by Intermittent conversations with
clever men, in their intervals of re.
taxation at IA club!
Shakespeare gradually rose in his
profession of an actor, but never &C.
qnired eminence in it. lie acted in
Hamlet-not the part of Hamlet, but
the Ghost. lie is described at this
time by IN unfortunate dramatist
named Robert Greene, who seemed
10 attribute his own failure to the
successful rivalry of the author, as
being ian upstart crow, beautified
with our feathers, that with his
tigers heart wrapt in players hide
supposes he is as well able to bombast
out blank verse as the best of you.
and being an absolute Johannes fac.
totum. is in his own conceit the only
Shake-scene in a countIie.'
In 1895 he is living in Southwark
In 1898 he has risen to be a share
holder and manager of the Globe and
Blackfriar Theaters, and is ricl
enough to buy New Plasce at STRAIT
ford. We hear of him lending money
and acting, and visiting Stratfort
once a year.
In 1899 lie obtains grant of coat
of-arms from IIeralds College; buy.
more land at Stratford.
In 1901 his father who had failel
in business, dies.
In leo35 he is in fourishing condi
ton; still manager of the Globe, ir
which he was one of the largest share
holders. He acts before the court
buys more land at Stratford.
In l60S9 we hear of him as plaintiff
in small actions against his fellow
townsmen at Stratford for recover,
| Of small loans or malt delivered.
III the period from 1893 to 1909 thu
wonderful plays appear. one or two O
more. a year. The earliest plays ar
supposed by some critics to have ap
peared in 1885, about the same tim,
that Shakespeare left Stratford.
In 1910, when he is in the prime O
life, at forty-seven, he retires t.
Stratford-on Avon, and betakes him
self-to study and literature! no.
resumes his old calling as woolstapler
The Shakespeare Plays now ceas,
to appear, and this just at the tim,
one would have thought that Will
Shakespeare had acquired the learn
ing and leisure to write with increas
ed zest.
In 1911 he appears as party to
lawsuit at Stratford with neighbor
On April 23rd, 1916, Shakespear
died at Stratford-on-Avon. in TIL
diary of Mr.. Ward, Vicar of Str It
ford ,occursthis entry: shakespeare
Drayton and Ben johnson drank to,
hard, for Shakespeare died of a feve
thus contracted"
l have omitted reference to
number of traditional anecdotes, al
of a more or less disreputable charac
ter, as they may not be true; they ar
however, based on the same tradi
tional evidence as the rest.
The death of the reputed author o
the Plays attracted no contemporar,
attention.
Such is the character, career an,
exit of the man who, we are asked t
believe, was the author of the Play
which are phenomenon, not only il
English letters. but in human expe
rience, and the like of which the lii
erature OF no other country has pre-
duced.
| An authors inner life is usual
manifested in his writings. Is Their
any other instance on record of tn
life and character of the individna
having been such misfit with TIL
works he is credited as having pro
duce6! I think not.
l have always felt a difficulty
amounting to an inability, to brin
my mindto believe that, except by in
SEPARATION or miracle, man of Shake
speare's education antecedents am
associations, could have written an,
Of them, but least Of all Macbeth
Hamlet. and Lear.
Tie plays, sonnets and poems, whel
printed in one volume, occupy hpwar'
Of one thousand very closely printe,
pages. containing nearly 200 lines t
each page.
The contents show not merely tina
the writer was cultivated man witt
wide, yet on the whole aristocrati
sympathies, and knowledge of char
acter. especially in the higher walk
Of life so that he could almost readil